


Just a Joke?

by lets_talk_appella



Series: PP3 Doesn't Exist Here [2]
Category: Pitch Perfect (Movies)
Genre: F/F, F/M, Jealousy, Pining
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-29
Updated: 2018-06-29
Packaged: 2019-05-30 08:24:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,316
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15092930
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lets_talk_appella/pseuds/lets_talk_appella
Summary: When Jesse says something serious to Beca, meaning it as a joke, she freaks out and goes to the one person she can open up to: Chloe. Part of a series, but can stand alone.





	Just a Joke?

**Author's Note:**

> This was a quick drabble challenge that had to include "it was just a joke, baby. I swear." Thanks for checking it out! It takes place about two weeks after the Worlds competition in PP2.

“Beca! Beca, come back!” Jesse’s voice rang out after her as she bolted to the kitchen counter to grab her purse, her hair flying behind her.

She forced her feet into her shoes roughly, jamming the heel down, not wanting to waste time putting them on properly. She could hear Jesse scrambling after her, knocking into a chair with a curse.

“Beca!” he called again. “It was a joke, baby! I swear.”

She snorted derisively as she flung open his front door and threw herself down the front steps. Once she made it down to the sidewalk, she paused only long enough to spin around and yell at him as he reached the doorframe, “It didn’t feel like a joke! I’m leaving!”

She turned and started running, actually running, down the sidewalk to put as much distance between herself and the Treble house as possible.

“Where are you going?!”

She looked over her shoulder and saw that he’d made it down to the sidewalk and had started to follow her.

She screamed back, her voice cracking with anger, “TO CHLOE!”

He stopped dead, staring after her with a pained expression.

It took Beca only seconds to scramble into the Bella house’s yard. She wrenched the door open, barely noticing that someone had forgotten to lock the front door again, launched herself inside, and slammed it behind her, locking the deadbolt. Panting, she peered through the peephole. Nothing. He hadn’t followed.

Only waiting long enough to take a huge breath – she really needed to work on that cardio – Beca lunged for the stairs, taking them two at a time, her mind churning and heart pounding. She was moving so quickly that she almost ran headlong into Flo on the landing.

“Woah, Beca? What - ?”

Without letting her finish her question, Beca moved past her at breakneck speed, hurtling directly into Chloe’s room without even knocking.

Chloe, who had been laying on her bed reading, jolted at Beca’s sudden appearance and shouted “Jesus!” as her book was sent flying.

She took in Beca’s messy hair, flushed cheeks, rapid breathing, and her halfway put on shoes. Frowning, she asked, “Bec? You okay?”

Beca shook her head, still trying to catch her breath. She turned and closed the door behind her, feeling Chloe’s eyes on her back.

“Come here,” Chloe said softly, patting a spot on the bed beside her.

Beca moved over to the bed and perched herself on the edge, not wanting to put her shoes on the covers. Her breathing finally slowed as she tilted her head back to stare at the ceiling, mummering, “Sorry to burst in. But I needed to see you.”

Chloe hesitantly reached out a hand, placing it on Beca’s back. When Beca didn’t flinch away, she started to rub up and down her spine soothingly.

“Hey,” she said softly, not wanting to startle Beca, “what’s wrong? What happened?”

Taking a deep, shuddering breath to steel herself, Beca sighed out, “Jesse. He just… he made me so mad. I had to get away.”

Chloe’s hand froze for an instant in its path down Beca’s back, then resumed its course. “Do you want to talk about it with me?”

Tearing her eyes away from the ceiling, Beca looked over her shoulder at Chloe’s encouraging smile. The tension between her shoulders disappeared as soon as she saw cerulean blue gazing back at her, and the crease between her eyebrows smoothed. She bent over to tug off her shoes and swung her legs up on the bed, scooting over to recline against the headboard next to Chloe.

“Yeah,” she replied, “I do actually. If that’s okay,” she looked anxiously at Chloe.

Nodding, Chloe said, “Of course it’s okay, silly. That’s kinda why I offered.”

“Shut up, weirdo,” Beca nudged Chloe teasingly, a small smile cracking her previously stormy exterior.

Chloe laughed, responding playfully, “Badass Beca Mitchell is about to open up and tell me her troubles. Mark this on the calendar.”

Beca rolled her eyes with a huff. “Do you want to know or not? I could just leave, you know!”

“Okay, okay,” Chloe said, raising her hands in truce. “What happened with Jesse?”

Beca’s face fell and she looked down at Chloe’s duvet. After a moment, she muttered, “He _still_ doesn’t understand why I’m going to New York with you guys and not to LA with him.”

“Mmm,” hummed Chloe to show she was listening.

“I told him a week ago this was the plan! I don’t get why he’s still going on about it, I mean, it’s not like I’m going to change my mind,” Beca continued. “Sure, did I used to want to go to LA? Yeah, but I’m allowed to do something else! Our lease is up at the end of the week and sue me if I wanted to go where I had a set job. Why doesn’t he get that?”

She was staring at Chloe now, who’d been letting her vent in silence.

“Well,” Chloe began carefully, “I think he had counted on you staying with him for the long-haul, Bec. He’s probably disappointed and is going to miss you.”

Beca frowned. “It’s not like we’re not going to be together, like _together_ together. We didn’t break up over it.”

Chloe’s eyebrows rose slightly. “You didn’t?” she asked, surprised.

“No…” said Beca slowly, looking just as surprised. “Why would we?”

Chloe looked away, a strange expression flickering across her face before becoming impassive again. “No reason, I guess. I just thought… never mind. Is that what you were upset about?” she added, changing the subject.

Beca cringed, looking down at her hand which began absentmindedly tracing the pattern of Chloe’s duvet. “Not that exactly…” she trailed off vaguely.

“Then what?” Chloe nudged.

“He – he said something bad. About why I was going to New York. With you.” Her face colored as she continued boring a hole into Chloe’s bed with her stare.

Chloe frowned, confused. “What?”

Whispering, Beca replied, “He said – well, implied – that the only reason I was going to New York was to be with you. Because I chose you over him. That I might as well be dating you instead of him.”

Stunned, Chloe sat staring at nothing. After a long pause, she found her voice. “He said that?” she croaked out.

Beca nodded, her face positively glowing as she continued to stare down. “That’s when I got mad and left. Even though he tried to say it was a joke. It wasn’t funny.”

“Beca…” said Chloe, at a loss. Beca, who was still looking down, missed the look of hope that crossed her face.

“I mean,” started Beca, “why would he even say that? You’re my best friend, it’s different! He’s my boyfriend. I’d never cheat on him, and he knows how close we are. I don’t get why he’d say something like that.” She finally raised her head to look at Chloe. “You know? It’s just a dumb thing to say.”

“Yeah,” muttered Chloe. “Dumb.”

Beca huffed again, leaning back on the headboard and closing her eyes. “That’s it, I guess. He pissed me off, and I needed to rant. We’ll probably be okay tomorrow.”

Chloe nodded mutely, looking at the opposite wall.

“Do you want to watch Netflix or something?” Beca asked, trying to hoist herself out of her bad mood.

Chloe snapped out of her haze. With a “yeah, sure,” she reached for her laptop and opened it to pull up the app.

“You can pick what we watch,” she said, fighting against the urge to question Beca further. Clearly, she was done talking for now.

As Beca settled in against Chloe’s side and started to scroll, she shoved down her unease. She could feel that something was left unresolved, but she knew things would look better after she had time to relax with Chloe.

Somehow, her best friend always made her feel better.


End file.
